BlizzCon Indefinitely Canceled

Blizzard issued a statement in which it informed that the organization of BlizzCon will be indefinitely suspended. In the statement, the company spoke about the future of the event, as well as the announcements planned for its canceled edition.

Lawsuits against Activision Blizzard are taking their toll. It is today that Jesse McCree (one of the playable characters in Overwatch) is to take on a new name - Cole Cassidy. However, this is not the only reason why this day may go down in Blizzard's history. The company issued a statement, according to which the previously announced and scheduled for next February BlizzConline (BlizzCon 2022) will not take place. The statement reads:

"Any BlizzCon event takes every single one of us to make happen, an entire-company effort, fueled by our desire to share what we create with the community we care about so much. At this time, we feel the energy it would take to put on a show like this is best directed towards supporting our teams and progressing development of our games and experiences."

The previous two editions of BlizzCon (2021 and 2020) were also canceled - only online events were held. Next year's event was to take a hybrid form (hence the name "BlizzConline"), combining online presentations with smaller gatherings of fans. At this point, it hasn't been specified when BlizzCon will return, but it has been suggested that it will do so in an entirely new form:

"Additionally, we would also like to take the time to reimagine what a BlizzCon event of the future could look like. The first BlizzCon was held 16 years ago, and so much has changed in the time since—most notably, the multiple ways in which players and communities can come together and feel like they are a part of something bigger. Whatever the event looks like in the future, we also need to ensure that it feels as safe, welcoming, and inclusive as possible."

It's worth mentioning that despite the cancelation of February's BlizzCon, the company still has several announcements to make about the games it's developing, which are to be shared with us in the near future - most likely these will concern Diablo IV and Overwatch 2.

Although in the statement Blizzard did not directly mention any of the lawsuits, the timing of the statement (just after 20 "involved" employees were fired ) and its emphasis on "supporting their teams" may explain why next year's BlizzCon had to be postponed. Well, there's nothing left to do but wait for further developments.